pedophiles the gambia

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A tourist wades into the sea with a minor African kid in The Republic of the gambia - where child sex abuse is rife

Gambian children are beingness sold to British paedophiles for as little every bit £two-a-time past their drastic parents, Sun Online tin reveal.

Huge numbers of predators are taking advantage of lax laws in the poverty stricken African country to commence on sick kid abuse holidays where they openly target little boys and girls.

Dominicus Online saw beginning hand how poor Gambian children can be vulnerable to British paedos when we visited the beach resorts that dot Kololi on the state's picturesque Atlantic coastline.

Our reporter was constantly shocked by the number of unaccompanied African minors he saw being cared for by middle-anile, Western men who did not announced to be their biological fathers.

gambia pedophiles child british man

A man with a British emphasis holds a scared toddler in his artillery

The encounters witnessed included a girl aged between six and eight having dejeuner with a balding, white haired man in a restaurant filled with similarly aged tourists.

The same day nosotros saw a stoutly congenital man in his 50s or 60s wading into the ocean gripping the hand of a tiny African child in white pond shorts.

Equally unsettling was the sight of a Gambian toddler watching wide-eyed with fearfulness equally a centre-anile white woman got into a fist fight with a young black prostitute at a popular beach bar.

It was 11.30pm at nighttime and the air was thick with cigarette smoke. The child, no older than 2, was being held closely by a white man with a British accent.

Children sold for £ii

Our investigation comes as experts warn that the economical crisis unleashed past the collapse of travel firm Thomas Melt is helping plough the former British colony into a "paedophile paradise" where perverts can operate unchecked.

Thomas Cook flew 45 per cent of The Gambia's 100,000 almanac visitors from the United kingdom to the upper-case letter Banjul until it went into liquidation under the weight of its debts in September.

The gambia map pedophiles

In an exclusive interview, Lamin Fat, the National Coordinator of the Kid Protection Brotherhood in The Republic of the gambia, reveals that both male and female tourists are targeting African minors.

He warns: "Sex is inexpensive in my country and children are being sold for as little as 150 dalasis, or just over £two in your currency. Some of the parents know their children are being abused and they take it considering they are so drastic for food in their bellies.

"Others are besides naïve to realise. They think the Westerner is paying their bills and helping their boy or daughter out of the kindness of their heart, while in reality they have bad intentions.

"Child abuse is going on all the fourth dimension in The gambia and the regime is non doing enough to put a stop to it.

The Gambia pedophiles

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Ii school-age girls play at the feet of two men, their mums nowhere in sight

"Our children are being approached directly on the beaches or the street and child abusers from all over Europe including the UK are coming here for this.

"I desire to make clear that this does not just involve men but also developed women who are paying for sex with teenage boys in The Gambia.

"Nosotros have laws that are supposed to cease this from happening just they are not existence enforced so we accept become a paradise for paedophiles."

Locals 'desperate' after Thomas Cook collapse

As tourism makes up one-third of the country's Gross domestic product, there are fears that businesses will go bust and locals will go hungry following an estimated 50 per cent drop in economical action that has already hitting beach resorts.

Lawyer and children's rights abet Malick Jallow told Sunday Online: "While some tourists will always want to help poor Gambians, others volition see this state of affairs as an opportunity to exploit young children.

the gambia pedophiles britain

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Lamin Fat, National Coordinator of the Children's Protection Alliance, said this male child shouldn't exist in a bar and then late at night, adding: "Nosotros practice not encourage physical affection with minors"

"The trouble is that the abuse is sometimes carried out with the blessing of the parents because they are so in demand.

"The perception is that white people, or 'toubabs' as they call them, have stacks of cash and these parents are often excited that their child has attracted the attention of a white man.

"It actually makes them experience proud so they requite their permission for the boy or girl to become with the person and when the police attempt to question them they volition non co-operate."

'She didn't expect comfortable at all'

Former Thomas Cook rep Anne Heap, 53, from Wigan, said: "These people are as poor as poor tin be — it's rare to see a child wearing shoes — and there isn't whatever other trade for them exterior tourism.

"Thomas Cook used to always give us an extra 10kg luggage allowance then the workers and passengers could bring aid boxes to The Gambia — basic things like clothes, medicine and school equipment.

"The first thing I idea of when we went nether was, 'What is going to happen to people in The Gambia?' We were the only airline flying direct at that place.I've heard that crime has already shot upward as in that location is not enough money coming in — the hand that feeds them is gone.

"Sex tourism is already huge in The Gambia — some bars are like brothels — and I exercise worry that more than children will get lured into prostitution to feed their families. When I was working at that place I would see erstwhile men walking with girls as young as x, 11 or 12. There is a dark side to The Gambia.

"One time when nosotros were flying back to Manchester there was a British man in his 70s with a girl who was only about eight or nine. This was almost eight years agone. I was and so concerned about what was going on that I got chatting to him outside the toilet during the flight. I wanted to speak to the girl too merely she never left her seat, she didn't look comfortable at all. I reported it and border security later on told me the man had been 'apprehended' but I was not able to find out what happened to him or the girl subsequently that."

Tots hand-in-manus with 'paedos'

We came beyond a number of tourists with young children in the West African resortCredit: My Story Media

There is no proof to suggest that any of the men nosotros pictured were paedophiles.

However the experts nosotros showed our dossier of photos to said the police should have questioned them co-ordinate to Gambian child protection laws.

Lamin Fatty said: "This does worry me because, if the children are unaccompanied, they should not be alone in tourist areas without their parents.

"It is also forbidden for a child to exist in a bar so late at night and we do non encourage concrete affection with minors.

"I work with young girls and boys and I would not hug them or selection them upward, information technology is not advisable."

Malick Jallow added: "I would take questioned these men had I seen them myself. As a lawyer and an activist, I would want to know if they accept the say-so to be caring for that child. We accept a lot of good Samaritans coming to The gambia but nosotros also accept people who use clemency as a front end to hide their bad intentions.

"The security guards should have questioned these men but there is a culture of inferiority here and they would take been scared to claiming a wealthy Westerner."

British tourists tin can still fly to The Republic of the gambia via Lisbon with the TAP airline or via Casablanca with Majestic Air Maroc. There is also a express directly service run past 'The Gambia Experience' company and package deals can be snapped upward for just over £500 a person.

Pensioners taking teens to hotels

Older British women are famed for holidaying in The Gambia, where some pick upwards African gigolosCredit: My Story Media

Health care banana Lucy Mendy, 33, from Gloucester, was trying to enjoy a winter holiday in the country she has come to see equally a 2nd dwelling — only says she was shocked by some of the things she had witnessed during her trip.

She said: "I've seen onetime men taking girls looking every bit immature as 15 or xvi-years-former to their hotel room.

"Information technology fabricated me feel sick and I wish I could have intervened, but this is not the U.k. and I was scared what might have happened if I tried to confront them. People here are and so poor, some of them volition do anything for coin, even if it ways giving their bodies to a tourist."

Marjorie said the touch of Thomas Melt closing down was articulate to see in the resort

Lucy'due south mum, pensioner Marjorie Botton, 68, likewise from Gloucester, added: "The plummet of Thomas Melt has hit people then difficult.

"They are getting half as many British tourists and that ways they might non make enough money to go through the placidity season, which starts in April."

Dutch tourist Corina Bouwman also witnessed suspected child abuse during her two week, winter vacation in December.

The social worker, 54, said: "I've seen a number of tiny African children walking around with big white men. On each occasion I idea, 'What is going on here? Where is the child's mother?' But I didn't want to charge anyone in case I had misread the state of affairs."

'White men arroyo little boys and girls'

Father-of-four Abdullah Labamba, 48, runs a fruit stand next to one of the many hotels that line Kololi's palm-tree fringed beach and says he has witnessed paedophiles targeting vulnerable child workers selling peanuts for less than £ane a bag.

the gambia pedophiles britain

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Fruit seller Abdullah Labamba, pictured, says paedos oft target vulnerable child workers selling peanuts

He said: "I've seen white men approach the little boys and girls correct here on the beach. I do my best to stop them. "I tell the children, 'Get out of here, this is not a safe place for yous.' The children will run away but they normally come back. It's shocking."

"Their parents are desperate for money and they know they won't be allowed home until they have sold at least five numberless. Some men attempt to take advantage of that past offering them £50 for the whole handbasket. Then they volition ask them to come dorsum to go somewhere private."

Child abuse scourge

Tragically, child corruption is at present owned in The Gambia, where 60 per cent of the 1.9m population live below the poverty line.

Previous inquiry has shown that paedophiles often pose as charity workers and Good Samaritans and so they can befriend poor families — and UNICEF has warned that The Gambia is one of Africa's top destinations for child sex activity tourism.

The Gambian government meanwhile has tried to crack down and in 2013 introduced new laws allowing them to seize hotel properties if children are knowingly driveling on the premises.

They also pledged to give out "hefty fines" and "stiff sentences" to paedophiles that are caught.

Merely incredibly at that place has been only ane successful prosecution since laws were tightened and that human concluded upwards being pardoned by the president.

Svein Agesandakar pedophile gambia

Svein Agesandakar was jailed for sexual offences confronting children

Norwegian teacher Svein Agesandakar, 57, was found guilty of abusing six children, the youngest aged three, in 2006.

The courtroom heard how he had tricked his way into a hard-up Gambian family by posing as a practise-gooder, giving the parents sacks of rice and new shoes in substitution for time alone with their big brood of six kids in a hotel room.

The paedophile had split up convictions for child corruption in Kingdom of norway but was sentenced to just iii years in jail.

Then, in 2018 President Adama Barrow decided to pardon him for reasons that have never been explained. The pardon was after revoked amidst a public outcry but experts fear his case has given a dark-green light to other paedophiles.

ECPAT is the merely kid rights charity that is solely focusing on ending the sexual exploitation of children.

Children in all countries of the globe are at risk of trafficking and prostitution, also every bit online dangers such every bit grooming, sextortion and the proliferation of child sexual corruption images.

In recent years, the travel and tourism sector has imperilled millions of children worldwide equally travelling child sex offenders find new victims.

To finish these crimes, knowledge and evidence must exist of the highest possible quality to inform decisions and guide action.

Predator complimentary

In Oct concluding year an official UN investigation found that The gambia's tourist areas continue to exist a dangerous identify for children and that predators at present stay in motels and private apartments so they can avoid prying eyes.

Un Special Rapporteur Maud de Boer-Buquicchio reported: "The rare instances when complaints are lodged with the police force are not duly acted upon, the gathering of compelling evidence is delayed, and investigation and prosecution is stalled, resulting in victims or witnesses withdrawing their complaints.

"Some cases have besides reportedly been dismissed on the grounds that statements by child victims were allegedly inconsistent."

Our study comes subsequently the Britain government was slammed for failing to protect children overseas from British predators.

A written report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) constitute more needs to be done to make sure offenders operating in poor countries like The gambia are caught and prosecuted.

Calling for a new national plan to tackle the problem, Debbie Beadle, Director of Programmes at the child protection organisation ECPAT Uk, said: "Nosotros hope that by bringing these institutional failings to low-cal, the UK can go a world leader in tackling the abuse of vulnerable children globally, and that child victims abroad are no longer 'under the radar' of government.

Global manhunt for Aussie paedo monster Simon Gordon Davies who ran child sex ring from clemency ready to 'help' homeless kids

Stop Child Prostitution and Trafficking - ECPAT is conducting primary research, as well every bit bringing together information from various sectors and countries around the earth, to form a reliable and professional range of bookish sources.The charity supports the protection of children and empowerment of 113 members in 98 countries - including The Gambia. Yous can donate to ECPAT here .